Post Game: How Lucky [They] Are

Tonight was a bit of a strange game. It was a game the Flames had a fairly decent shot at winning, surrendered five goals, badly outshot the Sharks for the vast majority of the game (35-18 in total), didn’t play particularly badly, and still lost. 

Sometimes, things just don’t go your way. 

Come see what happened after the jump!

It was an exceptionally choppy first five minutes or so with neither team able to get many chances before a whistle of some sort. However, Joel Ward managed to slip in on an uncontested breakaway that Karri Ramo, who hasn’t had much success this year on breakaways, managed to turn away. Unfortunately, things didn’t improve much for the Flames from there. 

Joe Colborne, who is unequivocally terrible, barfed the puck up to Joe Thornton who essentially was given an uncontested 2-on-0 and went five-hole on Ramo. 1-0 Sharks. Even being buried on the fourth-line couldn’t save the Flames from Colborne. Here’s a look:

Despite the fact that the Flames played reasonably well after the Sharks took the lead, at the 10 minute mark of the first the Jonas Donskoi was able to re-direct a point shot on a delayed Flames penalty. That penalty was for too many men, so basically it was 6-on-6. 2-0 Sharks. Yikes. Here’s a look at that goal courtesy of @MyRegularFace who I know you all follow already. If you don’t, I will have to confiscate your twitter license: 

Just when it seemed as though the Flames might get laughed off their home ice, Johnny Gaudreau rang a shot off the crossbar and the puck found Sean Monahan in front, who scored for the first time in nine games. 2-1.

That goal had to feel nice for Monahan who had been really gripping over the past few games. Hartley’s stubborn insistence on keeping him welded to Gaudreau means that the team will depend on one or both of them to produce if the Flames will have a hope of winning in the second half of the season. 

Really a strange period for the Flames, they played pretty well: out-shooting the Sharks 12-8 and had quite a few quality scoring chances. However, the Flames found themselves losing 2-1. Particularly, Backlund was a monster in the first and caught the eye of the sentient Flamesnation bot:

To start the second, fans were treated to a scolding of Mayor Nenshi courtesy of the always sane Eric Francis. His critique amounted to yelling at Nenshi for being “close-minded.” Weigh his thoughts as you may. The misery continued for Flames fans when first period hero Backlund coughed a puck up to Logan Couture that ended up getting deflected into the net off of Joel Ward or Kris Russell or maybe neither. 3-1 Sharks. 

A little past the halfway point of the second, the Flames had an amazing opportunity to get right back into the game: a full two-minute 5on3. It was the kind of opportunity that you absolutely have to score on. The Flames did just that. Dennis Wideman buried a wrister with a little bit of traffic in front of Jones. 3-2 Sharks. Wideman’s second of the season (both on the PP). 

One heartbeat later, the Flames tied the game. Sam Bennett was the recipient of a pretty pass from Backlund off a nice stretch pass from Brodie and the Killer B’s tied the game at 3. Two goals in fifteen friggen seconds and the complexion of the game was changed. 

At the end of the second, the game was tied which was quite a spot for the Flames to be in after two separate two-goal deficits. 

However, to start the third period, the Sharks got their first power play of the game and made no mistake. Some slick passing from Thornton and Marleau found Brent Burns untouched at the backdoor. 4-3 Sharks and all the momentum that the Flames gained from the second was erased. Flames needed a kill and couldn’t get it. 

The final nail in the coffin came at the eleven minute mark when noted Flame-killer Joel Ward attempted a pass that hit Mark Giordano and beat Karri Ramo. 5-3 Sharks and the Flames were cooked. A collection of crappy bounces seemed to conspire against the Flames tonight as the Sharks had at least three of their goals find fortuitous routes into the Calgary net. 

However, the Flames got a late power-play and, remarkably, scored their third goal in four opportunities. A double-deflection off of a Dougie Hamilton shot hit Backlund’s then Ferland’s stick and the Flames were suddenly back within one. 

Unfortunately, the Flames couldn’t complete the comeback and dropped their second straight.

Backlund had a good start to the game, finished the game with six shots, and made a great pass to Bennett for his goal. However, we give him a lot of praise around here so i figured we would give him a break. Micheal Ferland looked very strong tonight and was rewarded with a late-game goal.I thought Brodie looked good tonight which is consistent with him being amazing. I thought Markus Granlund had a few good scoring chances but I had to go with 18- year-old-19-year- old-Sam Bennett who scored a beauty and tied the game in the second period

God knows he’s had chances but hopefully Bennett can use this goal to springboard him onto a hot streak of some sort. The Flames are in desperate need of consistent secondary scoring. 

The Flames lost their second-straight against a divisional opponent on home ice in a tight divisional race and fall to below .500 again. Obviously, that isn’t great. However, due to the nature of the crap-tastic Pacific division, the Flames still have essentially half a season to sink or swim. That being said, results like this one and the previous game against Arizona can be the kind of games that sting if the Flames were to be still in contention come late March. 

Things don’t get a lot easier for the Flames. Next up: The Best Team in the History of Frozen Ice: the 2015-16 Florida Panthers on Wendesday.